House Bill 119 turns on one teeny-weeny sentence. Its advocates on Monday were selling it as so simple they could scarcely believe anyone would question the motives or wisdom behind it.

Which is always a good reason to look a little closer at what's going on.

After sprinting through the House Education Committee in a slick five minutes, HB119 is on the fast track to a vote in the full House. It would change a 36-year-old policy requiring the state Board of Regents - the governing body for Utah's ten public colleges and universities - to be made up of Democrats and Republicans alike. The new sentence taken up by the bill reads: "All appointments to the board shall be made on a nonpartisan basis."

Why is that a problem? More nonpartisan governing might help us avoid all the partisan bickering that has helped turn millions of Americans completely off politics.

Except in this case. Regents is one of a few powerful boards left in this state that isn't simply a rubber stamp for the Republican Party. The board consists of 18 members. The governor appoints 15 members from around the state who are approved by the state Senate. The governor also appoints a college or university student each year to serve. Two members represent the State Board of Education, but have no vote.

Some history: Ever since Gov. Calvin Rampton appointed the first Board of Regents in 1969, no more than eight members (excluding the student appointee) have been from the same political party. The statutory balance between Demos and Repubs has been a decent effort at keeping the group - and by extension, the higher education system - politically and culturally diverse. And this is no mean feat in a state that prides itself on its independence, but has basically cried "uncle" to one-party rule.

So you won't be surprised to learn that the legislation caught the still-bipartisan Board of Regents by surprise (discussion of HB119 was nowhere to be found in Friday's regular Regents meeting).

You won't be surprised that Republican legislative leadership and Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. have all lined up behind this bad idea. Sponsor and House Majority Leader Jeff Alexander said his initial concern was less about party and more about better geographical representation, but this was an easier step.

Only one regent, for instance, comes from his home territory of Utah County. "I decided to go this route and let the governor choose the regents on a nonpartisan basis," said Alexander.

Down the road, a Democratic governor could just as easily stack the board with political cronies as a Republican. I asked Alexander, isn't single-party rule a problem at all?

"That doesn't concern me," he said. "If the governor feels like [Regents] needs more political diversity he can look for that in his appointments."

Besides, Alexander concluded, "the [Republican] majority we have now in the House and Senate is not reflected on this board."

Huntsman chief of staff Mike Mower said his boss backs HB119 partly because "it becomes awkward to ask their politics" in seeking out Regent candidates. "You want good people to serve regardless of their politics."

Regents Chairman Nolan Karras, a Republican and former House Speaker, said even though the board is bipartisan, "it deals with issues in a nonpartisan manner and has been working well under its current structure."

Regent Meghan Holbrook, a Democrat, said she only learned of the proposed change on Sunday in this newspaper. She testified against HB119.

"The challenges facing the future of higher education in Utah are immense," she told the committee. "Political diversity on the Board of Regents helps achieve" the broad-based support to meet those challenges"

But what do they know? They only work there.

hmullen@sltrib.com